Dropping to 0-5 lifetime at the ATP Finals has left the worst possible taste in Alex de Minaur’s mouth. The Aussie was not happy after he fell to Lorenzo Musetti from a set up on Tuesday to fall to 0-2 in group play at this year’s ATP Finals.
It’s been a brilliant season for the seventh-ranked Aussie, who has achieved a personal-best 55 wins and added a 500-level title at Washington, DC this summer, saving three championship points in a brilliant final against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
But it’s not enough for De Minaur. The 1-10 record against the Top 10, which includes losses to Musetti and Carlos Alcaraz in Turin, is no doubt weighing on him.
The be the best you have to beat the best, and that’s proven to be a difficult task this year for De Minaur. He wore his frustration after Tuesday’s 7-5, 3-6 7-5 loss to Alex de Minaur, one in which he held a 5-3 lead in the final set after twice having a point to go double-break up, then finally dropped the final four games.
“I think it’s probably a good thing I don’t express my feelings right now because they’re quite dark,” De Minaur told reporters. “To be honest, it just feels like it’s been that type of year where I’ve had what feels like a whole lot of matches that should have gone my way and just somehow don’t, so… I mean, yeah, don’t feel great.”
De Minaur says he needs to start winning these types of matches if he wants to break through on the biggest stages of tennis. Keep in mind, De Minaur has been a pillar of consistency at the majors, but he has lost all six Grand Slam quarterfinals that he has played across the last two seasons.
“Just have a talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are issues that can’t keep happening,” he said. “If I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can’t lose ’em. I just can’t.”
De Minaur will take a shot at Taylor Fritz on Thursday. He has split his previous ten meetings with the American. For his mental health, a win could be the perfect tonic.
“It’s getting to a point where mentally it’s killing me,” he said. “It’s something that if it doesn’t get sorted, it’s going to eat me alive. I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later – I don’t know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one.”
